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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24433609">Exiled Prince and the Disowned Duchess</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Randilee/pseuds/Randilee'>Randilee</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Garrett Hawke - Freeform, Mage Hawke (Dragon Age), Origin Story</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 08:21:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,295</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24433609</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Randilee/pseuds/Randilee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Katherine Trevelyan had been engaged to marry Sebastian Vael since she was still a child, and she had spent every minute since fighting her parents will. No one would tell her who to love, but what happens when the lines of our pride and what we might actually want get blurred? Nothing's easy for someone this strong willed.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cullen Rutherford/Female Trevelyan, Female Trevelyan/Sebastian Vael</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h2>Crestwood, 9:42 Dragon</h2>

<h3>Chapter 1</h3>

<p>Katherine and Garrett Hawke were the last ones awake in their little camp in the rocky hills of Crestwood. Hawke added more wood to the dimming fire, and he had yet to give up on coaxing information out of Katherine about her life. She was trying hard to keep the walls up. Allowing him to get to know her would only allow for more ammo against her. </p>
<p>She barely knew Hawke, didn’t trust him, didn’t want to.</p>
<p>“So, Cullen is in love with you.” Stated as plainly saying I noticed Blackwall has a beard.</p>
<p>Either he was trying to stir up shit, or he was actually that good at reading people.</p>
<p>“No… he’s not.” Katherine shot back, annoyed already.</p>
<p>“Do you think we should ask him?” A facetious smile grew so large it might have covered his whole face. Hawke cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled out “Oi, Commander!” in the direction of Cullen’s tent.</p><p>Katherine shoved his shoulder roughly to get him to quiet down, then hissed, “Shut it!”</p>
<p>With Hawke’s self-impressed laughter subsiding, he continued on with his questions. “If you’re noble born of Ostwick, why did you spend so much time in Kirkwall? And how is it we never met?”</p>
<p>“Perhaps I avoided you. There were rumors about the Champion of Kirkwall being a real pain in the ass. I can’t say I would argue with them.” Kat said curtly with the sharp tongue she was known for. But the only rise she got from Hawke was an innocent giggle; an odd thing coming from a man so large. She continued, wanting to turn the subject as far away from her as possible.</p><p>She asked the first question that came to mind. “So, how has your brother been?” in a tone almost believably innocent.</p>
<p>“Carver… ? How the hell do you know Carver?” A larger laugh this time, followed by an incredulous look that let her know she had just made a horrible mistake. Katherine could have kicked herself. She was trying her best to deter his questions, not give him cause for more.</p>
<p>She spewed the first lie she could think of, “Oh, I simply read Varric’s book and was asking for the sake of conversation.”</p>
<p>“Nice try, darling, but Varric was rather verbal about how put-off he was by the fact that you hadn’t read The Tale of the Champion.” Hawke joked, evidently Varric had complained to the Champion at some point. It seemed odd to Katherine why Varric would care whether she had read his book or not. It wasn’t as though it were that famous a title. Garrett continued to gush about her revealed secret, “Oooh but your evasiveness is telling. Now I’m intrigued.” </p>
<p>Shit. She thought, irritated by how talented Hawke was at ferreting out her secrets.</p>
<p>“Fine… I knew Carver in Kirkwall. I had gone back to look for someone, and in the meantime... I helped Elthina. I was a lay-sister in the Chantry there, every once in awhile Carver would come in the mornings to pray.”</p>
<p>“Carver? Praying in the Chantry? Riiight. Varric’s fairy tales are more believable.” He said amidst a large bite taken from a leftover dinner roll. A couple crumbs fell from the side of his mouth in an almost impossibly endearing way. “Who were you looking for in Kirkwall? Was it Sebastian?”</p>
<p>Kat popped her knuckles in her lap nervously at the sound of his name. “Another story, another time, Hawke.”</p>
<p>“It doesn’t make sense… So Carver just stopped in every now and again and pretended to know the chant of light? And if that truly is all, why would you try to hide something seemingly so innocent? There has to be more to it.”</p>
<p>“I was well aware that the only reason he came to the Chantry was to see me. Carver brought me roses from the gardens and helped me with errands every once in awhile. The person I had come to find had been forced to leave Kirkwall only just before I got there… family business, I suppose. I waited for him to return, hoping that my trip hadn’t been a waste. It frustrated me, and I was all alone. I couldn’t go back home to Ostwick... Carver kept me company.”</p>
<p>Hawke’s face lit up. “So you were the girl! Maker… Carver would disappear for hours at a time, and when I asked him about it he would say he had been with a woman but wouldn’t tell me her name. I honestly thought he was making you up. I owe him an apology.” </p>
<p>She wanted to tell him that not everyone lived with such liberality as he did, but she refrained. “I told him that he couldn’t tell anyone who I was, lest rumors begin to circle. Tossing the name Trevelyan around could do more damage than you might expect. ” </p>
<p>“Meaning you slept together. That sly bastard! No wonder he walked around with a smug smile on his face… Secretly bedding some gorgeous noblewoman. Trevelyan. Shit… so I have to know, how was my little brother? In the sack I mean.”</p>
<p>He got a swift punch in the arm. “Hawke!” She knew he was only teasing her and didn’t need a response, but she protested him anyhow.</p>
<p>Hawke cut her off. “For all I know, you were his first. I’m just curious if he has a chance of finding anyone else who will sleep with him. The brooding thing doesn’t typically work in his favor. And the Grey Warden thing can only carry him so far…”</p>
<p>The Inquisitor stared incredulously at Hawke, amazed by how he was set off so knowing about her history with Carver. “He told me about this. You and him, your never ending competition with each other. I see now why you pissed him off so much.” </p>
<p>Hawke did nothing but shrug his shoulders and continue. “It’s a curse really. Speaking of competition. I don’t suppose you would be interested in finding out which brother truly is better in bed? My odds are on the eldest.” Hawke said just sarcastically enough that he could play it off as a joke if she took offense. He had to try, couldn't blame him for that. A seductive smirk bared his teeth slightly.</p>
<p>It baffled her how one person could be so damn charismatic. If those words had came out of any other man's mouth he would have gotten a punch to the throat to match his arm. </p>
<p>Not that she considered it seriously, by any means, but she felt there was some ironic symmetry in allowing Carver this one victory over his brother. He had been allowed one thing in which his brother would never be, and that would be a night with her. Things had never been serious with Carver, but she could easily say that she still cared very much for him. Even if it were just by way of understanding someone’s nature so thoroughly because it was so similar with one’s own.</p>
<p>She understood the reasons for which Carver was the way he was and she had been more attracted to him because of it. She and Carver were very much the same.</p>
<p>She had also been the youngest, with her older brother always getting the attention because he was the heir to the land. He was the only one with anything to offer. Also just like Carver, she relied more on aggression to get what she wanted than charm. Charm like Hawke’s. Charm that would talk people into anything. But there were other methods with which to get one’s way.</p>
<p>
Charisma had never really been her thing. 

</p>
<p>Intimidation, a little more her thing. She worked with what she had, and what she had was a fierce set of eyes that could burn holes through someone’s skull, and a well-stocked arsenal of backhanded comments. Getting in the last word, flicking it like salt into a wound… that was her specialty.</p>
<p>She could walk out of a room, and leave those behind feeling as though her voice was still ringing through the air. Humming and vibrating in silence, as thoughts were left spinning to take in every word, contemplating every hidden truth.</p><p>Katherine knew the value of words, and she did not take them for granted. There were some people to whom words meant nothing. People who you could pelt with thousands of words and they wouldn’t take a single one in because they are too concerned with filling the air with their own words. </p>
<p>These people she didn’t open her mouth to. Silence spoke louder to them. Silence silenced them.</p>
<p>Then there are the people who save every conversation like a take-out bag of food to digest and taste again later. They sift through each statement, tongue at each word anxiously trying to analyze.  Whydidisaythat. Shouldn’thavesaidthat. Iwonderwhattheymeantbythat?</p>
<p>These were the people she loved the most, the ones who hung on her every word, auditing them with suspicion. A cleverly concealed insult was not wasted on this kind. No, they would have already tossed back and forth every possible hidden meaning to her words before they even responded. These ones were a challenge to Katherine, and she always enjoyed a challenge.</p>
<p>It truly was a work of art, the manner in which she inflicted manipulation. Manipulation, not charisma. There was quite a difference. Reserved tact, and a well-placed smile confused them all into trusting her without question.</p>
<p>But this was exactly what had gotten her into trouble. One can usually only go so long, playing their games, before finding someone else who can play them just as well. 
Sebastian had played them even better.</p>
<p>Her thoughts had drifted far off, but they were interrupted by another bout of Hawke’s prying. “So, are you going to tell me who you were looking for in Kirkwall? And, just a guess, but I’m going to say this story will give some insight into why you’re so unwilling to trust anyone? Oh ye fearless Inquisitor, slaying dragons and mighty beasts alike but is unable to slay her own demons.” he said in a mockingly spooky tone, like someone might telling a child a ghost story.</p>
<p>“Do you really think that egging me on like that will make me want to tell you?” She only barely resisted the impulse to punch him in the shoulder a second time.</p>
<p>“My next guess was going to be that your father never loved you. No? Okay, okay… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, please just tell the story before I blurt out another smartass comment! I truly can’t help it.” He was so amused with himself, a grin spanned the entire width of of his face.</p>
<p>With a rough sigh, and a warning glare that masked her urge to laugh along with him, she gave in. Perhaps it would be good to have a friend who actually knew the whole story, she thought. </p>
<p>“Fine, Hawke. But it will be a long story, I’ll have to start at the beginning or none of it will make sense.” She waited with wide eyes almost hoping that he would give up, but he simply raised his eyebrows and sat there waiting. “Alright… So you know about Sebastian and I, but you do not know the whole story.”</p>
<p>“You two make a good match, really. I didn't see it at first, but there's just slightly enough self-disdain shared between the both of you… And an air of undeniable self-importance. Soulmates, I say.” He said with a gentle nudge into her side to ensure she knew he was just trying to get her to smile.</p>
<p>“Are you going to let me tell my story or not?” she snapped. Trying to not reveal her amusement had now become a chore.</p>
<p>Hawke quieted down and rubbed his brow. It was exhausting for him to keep his mouth shut, and there was so much he wanted to say. He was like a child, unable to contain himself. “So, what did Prince Vael do? Spend too much time praying? Did he... say Andraste’s name during sex? I should have Varric write that down…”</p>
<p>“Sebastian did not always belong to the Chantry. He was not always the proud, shining example of what an Andrastian should be. At one point he actually had a sense of humor. And a rather insatiable appetite for trouble. So. I guess that is exactly where I will start.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h3>Chapter 2</h3><h4>Ostwick, the Free Marches</h4>
<p>Kat and Bash had been engaged since they were both five, and growing up they knew little about each other, save for the fact that they loathed one another. Katherine had spent her youth dreading their marriage, and she had done absolutely everything in her power to stop it.</p>
<p>She wanted to choose who she married, and not because she believed in the notion of true love, but because she simply couldn’t stand anyone having a single ounce of control over her. Sebastian and she were nearly the same person. They had the same manipulative ways, obsessive need for control and power. They both would rather be feared, before being loved.</p>
<p>At first, this made them enemies. Enemies who tortured each other through snide plots and sinister games. </p>
<p>
Sebastian once let loose fireworks through the grand apartments of the Ostwick Manor, lighting curtains aflame and leaving black licks of ash and flames across the ivory stone walls.</p>
<p>Her parents blamed her for it and she wasn’t allowed to leave her rooms for weeks.</p>
<p>Kat had responded to his prank by having his cooks unknowingly feed him something that would loosen his bowels for days. The Vael’s had to call in a healer to stop the violent sickness.</p>
<p>Worse still, Bash came at her at a ball thrown in her mother’s honor. He bought the services of some dancing ladies from Kirkwall, and they introduced themselves as Katherine’s gift to Lady Trevelyan. Her mother watched with terror-filled eyes as the girls climbed into tables and began dancing erotically in front of the shocked crowd. Parents shielded their children from watching, other disgruntled nobles cursed and yelled to get the women out. Lady Trevelyan did nothing but sob as Katherine’s father attempted to calm her, never taking his glare off of Kat.</p>
<p>Kat had all but declared war on Bash after that. She had already tried to explain to her parents that everything had happened because of Sebastian’s meddling, but they were convinced he was a saintly young man who could do no wrong. They blamed her for trying to ruin a very beneficial marriage alliance because she was selfish. Maybe she was, all she knew was that it hardly mattered who she married because she was the  youngest and also not a male. She wasn’t going to give up, to let Bash win.</p>
<p>She had sent at least ten girls, trained by herself in the arts of sex and seduction to try and lure him into the trap of lust. Her confidants were tasked with trying to bed the young Prince of Starkhaven, then expose him for it and put the blame on him. If Sebastian were known to inappropriately ensnare young girls into his bed chambers, perhaps then her father would no longer force her to marry him.</p>
<p>But Bash never fell into her trap. Sebastian was notorious for the attention he got from women, so Katherine was dumbfounded by why he never bedded a single one of the girls she sent. She didn’t care that she was using them, they all did whatever she said because of who she was. She could trick anyone into anything, and when she wanted something she would go to any lengths necessary. And she wanted to be free of him.</p>
<p>Sebastian was the exact same way, and they both fought back and forth. Sending fake, incriminating letters to the other’s parents. Planting spies on both ends. Katherine’s people drugged Bash to make it seem like he had been drinking heavily before an important ball his father threw. Sebastian’s spies altered all of Katherine’s dresses, so that one step on her hem would rip the skirt of the dress clean off. After the eighth time it happened, she knew the  Prince had to be behind it and discovered who exactly in her castle was loyal to Sebastian.</p>
<p>At first, the pranks were all in good fun but, as it is in human nature to push things too far, their little tricks eventually disowned the both from their families. </p>
<p>Katherine neared eighteen, and her marriage to Sebastian loomed closer. He was the youngest of three, with two older brothers. Just as she was. Bash would never have claim to the throne while his older brothers were alive. While Katherine wasn’t about to kill off the older Vael brothers to place him on the throne, it would have made marrying him less horrible if he were actually going to have some power at one point. His older brothers seemed to be perfect gentlemen, where Bash was nothing but a rebellious teenager. </p>
<p>But then again, so was she.</p>
<p>She had resolved herself to peace. Her idea of it anyway. She would give in and marry Bash, do as her father wanted and put her own desires off to the wayside.</p>
<p>That was, until a letter was found placed on the sill of her bedroom window, the one she always looked out of to see the stars at night when the sky was at its blackest.</p>
<p>The paper wasn’t very large, but rolled into a tight cylinder and tied with blue, the Vael colors. Kat looked around the room suspiciously, wondering how someone managed to slip into her rooms, and caution made her question if this was Bash’s next malevolent trick.</p>
<p>Unrolling the note with her thumbs, she found it was addressed to her from Sebastian.</p>
<p></p><blockquote><p>Kat,<br/>
I find it hard to match the words I want to write<br/>
with the words that my quill writes for me.<br/>
It’s always been that way though, for me atleast.<br/>
Whatever I actually thought or felt,<br/>
was covered up by what I thought I should feel.<br/>
Look where it’s gotten us. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.<br/>
Forever yours,<br/>
Bash</p>
<p></p><blockquote><p>Katherine dropped the note back down onto the window sill and backed away slowly. Forever yours, Bash. It was as though all the blood rushed to her head at once, and she became so dizzy she had to sit down. She fell backwards onto her bed and rolled onto her side.</p>
<p>Tears might have come, but she hadn’t cried in so long, it were hardly possible.</p>
<p>Sebastian had delivered this himself. He and his family had arrived that morning while she was out horseback riding, without her knowing.</p>
<p>This was it then. Katherine thought to herself. The summer weddings would be arranged in the following weeks.</p>
<p>The eldest Vael brother, heir to the Principalities, Frederic was marrying some Nevarran Princess, and Kat’s own wedding to Sebastian would no doubt be arranged as well.</p>
<p>She had failed at convincing her father to let her live her own life.</p>
<p>Sleep did not find her that night, instead, thoughts of last minute attempts at freedom demanded her attention, each a worse idea than the last. The thought of Sebastian’s note, and how terrified she was that it was a sick joke, made her desperate. She needed the checkmate.</p>
<p>Frederic was Sebastian’s oldest brother, and had always had an affinity for Katherine. She was well aware of this fact. Since they were children he had doted on her. But they were children no longer and Frederic himself was being pushed into a marriage arranged by his parents.</p>
<p>He would assume the throne once his father died, and so his marriage was of even greater importance. A nobleman’s daughter from Nevarra had very carefully been selected for him. How similar their situations were.</p>
<p>One month was left to go until Frederic’s wedding to the girl he had only just met. They had travelled to Ostwick to celebrate the engagement, and no doubt, Sebastian and Katherine’s engagement would become sealed with a looming wedding date, as well. This was her mother’s plan, she knew. She had told Kat to her face that she was going to send her away the first second she could. </p>
<p>Tomorrow, everything would change.</p>
<p>She slept into the morning, and awoke only to go tend to her horses. Kat avoided everyone until the first of the celebrations began; a feast to honor the new couple that would go late into the night. In the morning after, they would gather again and discuss what wedding details had to be solidified. They would break, then rejoin for another feast. Kat was sure this was when her mother would tell the world that Andraste had sealed the wedding date for her and Bash. She wouldn’t be there for that to happen.
Katherine seized what she saw as her last chance.</p>
<p>It was a foggy night, and the mists had rolled into the halls of the Oswick Manor. Ostwick was like that, stormy and rainy this time of year, right before the warmth sets in. They had all gathered in the great hall of the castle for the first dinner.</p>
<p>As they all ate, she placed herself on display for him, for Frederic. She made sure to sit directly across from him. He said not one word to his Nevarran betrothed, and instead was showered with attention from Katherine. He ate it up more than willingly, along with red meats, sweets and cupfulls of dark red wine.</p>
<p>Sebastian had been forced to sit beside her at the table and awkwardly contemplate what trick she had up her sleeve this time. His expression throughout the dinner was one she could not place; incredulity, amusement, or an uncomfortable sort of jealousy.</p>
<p>After dinner was over, she rushed down the hall to the powder room to check her appearance. The handmaiden who had now become one of her closest accomplices tightened Katherine’s dark, long braids.</p>
<p>Then she trapsed down the hall with a sense of excitement, to the guest chambers where Frederic was to sleep that night. She waited for him behind the closed door, waiting until two sets of footsteps arrived outside of it. She sat listening to him awkwardly, coldly, bid his fiancee a good night. 
The surprise on his face when he opened the door was delicious.</p>
<p>It must have been quite the sight for him, having imagined her in this way for years. Sleeve hanging off of her shoulder, black hair being taken from their braids, and rose perfume delicately dabbed on each side of her neck. 
It was too easy for her.</p>
<p>He was quite handsome enough, she could at least pretend that she was attracted to him.</p>
<p>“I’ve waited so long for a chance to be alone with you.” She muttered.</p>
<p>Kat was sitting on the edge of his bed, and had been waiting for him to walk through the door. “Too long.” she continued. His face was flurried with nervous excitement. He looked back at the door to make sure that it was shut and listened to the Nevarran’s footsteps disappear. </p>
<p>This eldest son was nothing like the youngest. Sebastian was bold and fearless, where Frederic was made vulnerable just by the sight of her. She could almost hear his heart race faster as he stepped towards her. As he came to sit beside her on the bed, his eyes scanned her in anticipation.</p>
<p>She didn’t do cute well, or pretty, or delicate, or any of the things that a girl is told she should be.</p>
<p>She did do sexy well. In the thrilling, almost-partially scary sort of way. And that did work for her. Most of the men she met were confused about being either turned on, or terrified. There really was no in between. This is not to say that her adventures with men had been particularly numerous, rather that she used her talent to her advantage when it was necessary. Her talent would come in handy while trying to seduce the eldest Prince of Starkhaven.</p>
<p>“My fiancee is only just down the hall, Katherine…” Frederic had said while eyeing her bare shoulder.</p>
<p>“I know… it saddens me so, to see you marrying someone else. Someone… who you don’t care for.” She met his eyes on purpose and held them demandingly. Kat ran her fingers softly through his dark brown hair, noting that it did not have the slight curl that Sebastian’s did. He didn’t take his wide eyes from her. Like a deer, like easy prey. Kat continued in a low voice, sultry. It felt like she was physically drawing him in, closer and closer.  “Not the way you care for me. Isn’t that right? You care for me. And you always have.”</p>
<p>“Yes, I have always… but I can’t. You are engaged to Sebastian, my little brother...” He shook his head and stood up, trying to distance himself from the seductress.</p>
<p>Succubus.</p>
<p>Frederic faced away from her, looking at the armoire in front of him.</p>
<p>She slinked forward to stand behind him and speak softly into his ear. “You already know that Sebastian and I would kill each other before we made it to the chantry to be wed.”</p>
<p>“That’s not true, my brother told me just yesterday that he feels lucky to be…” Fred began, but Kat cut him off with a “shhhh...” and a shake of her head. She did wonder what the end of that sentence was though. What could Sebastian possibly have to feel lucky about between them?</p>
<p>“I’m sorry Fred… I dream of a life where we are not forced into marrying someone we hate. I dream of us…” A breath caught her throat.</p>
<p>She was watching his countenance change; watched how she was able to mold him into her hands like clay. It was working. “.... it’s no use. Perhaps if it weren’t for our titles, we could run away together and live the life we wanted.” She pulled off the lie most convincingly.</p>
<p>“You would run away... with me?” Hope filled his eyes. He wanted an escape from the pressures his parents gave him just as much as she did. Frederic watched her as she slid over to his bed, sitting down at the spot where the linens were turned down, ready for the Prince to climb under the covers.</p>
<p>His brows furrowed slightly, followed by a confounded bright smile. “Why can’t we?”</p>
<p>Kat wasn’t the only one who would take any out of an unwanted marriage. This hope covering his face was about more than his boyish feelings for her. Perhaps she was doing him a favor. That’s what she would tell herself anyway, justifying it.
At his words a smile spread across her lips, for a different reason than his, knowing that her plan might actually work out. “How’s tomorrow sound?”</p>
<p>Rumors flew after the disappearance of the royal heir and the youngest Trevelyan daughter. The whole of the Free Marches knew that any chance of an alliance with Nevarra was gone the second the two of them snuck off together into the night. Every city state was in an uproar over the scandal, and still no one knew where they had run off to.</p>
<p>Had it not been for Sebastian’s little group of birds on the wind, spies taught to listen; had they not been keeping an eye on Katherine, the two may have never been found. Sebastian used his information to help both of their enraged fathers trace them to a cabin outside a small village on the Storm Coast across the narrow sea separating the Marches from Ferelden.</p>
<p>The journey Katherine and Fred took was one of silence. They hardly spoke to each other. Perhaps they knew that they had made a mistake the second that they left, but they had gone through with it. No going back. No facing their father’s anger.</p>
<p>Fred had told a friend that he needed a place to stay and they were given rough directions to the village in Ferelden on the Storm Coast. It would be their first venture outside of the Free Marches, for both of them.</p>
<p>They both certainly acted like they wanted to be adults, wanted to make their own decisions but when it came down to traveling abroad alone, they were scared. Whether either would admit it or not, it was true.</p>
<p>Once they had made it to the cabin, Kat unpacked their things and decided to try and make the best of it. Fred had taken a little money with them and so they went to the market in the village and bought a couple fillets of fish, freshly caught.</p>
<p>Days were spent walking the shoreline together, watching the sunset and then falling asleep awkwardly beside the other. They shared a kiss now and then, but they said little.</p>
<p>Resentment and attachment grew slightly in equal measure during their weeks at the cabin.</p>
<p>Fred was not as bad as Katherine had imagined, and she could see how if things had been slightly different, she might have even fallen for him.</p>
<p>But things weren’t different, things were forced. He was too nice and it annoyed her. He tiptoed around her and made her feel more alone because of it. They didn’t understand each other at all.</p>
<p>Katherine wondered day in and out whether she had made her fate worse by trying to control it. </p>
<p>A small company of men traveled with the Lord Trevelyan and Lord Vael across the sea, guided by Sebastian’s information.</p>
<p>No one knew what to expect to find in the quiet cabin atop the rocky hill, but Sebastian was not prepared.</p>
<p>Sea air kissed Sebastian’s face and when he licked his lips he could taste the salt of the waves. It was a crisp day, cold even under his furs.</p>
<p>He looked up at the cabin. Someone had started the fireplace because smoke was billowing out of it into the cold, and a smirk crossed his face when he thought of his spoiled brother having to figure out how to start his own fire. He knew it was more likely Kat that Fred that had cut the firewood and had put in the work to get the flames going. While amusing, it wasn’t altogether a comforting thought. Katherine had been out here alone for over three weeks.</p>
<p>“C’mon, boy. We’ve come all this way. You have to finish this.” Sebastian’s father said sternly, and waved him impatiently forward.</p>
<p>A deep breath, and then Bash began climbing the stone trodden trail up the hill towards the cabin. It might have been his imagination, but the wind seemed to sting his face more harshly with every step he took closer.</p>
<p>Bash had opened the door to the little cabin without knocking. He braced himself the moment he saw her. Katherine stood cooking fish on the stove in a white dress. It was one that had always been his favorite, even though he had teasingly told her she should stick to black over and over. Her back was to Sebastian, and she hadn’t noticed the door had opened, but Fred had. Frederic defensively moved towards Katherine and put his arm on the small of her back.</p>
<p>Sebastian couldn’t move his eyes from Fred’s hand. It was such a foreign concept to him, that Katherine… his Katherine, was being touched by another man in such a way. Let alone his own brother. The gesture was one of possession, one that said  back off, now. </p>
<p>Crippling rage took over Sebastian's body, making his chest puff and his breath stop in his lungs. </p>
<p>He had never felt jealousy before, because Katherine had never even been near other men before. She had always been too preoccupied with planning her next form of revenge against himself. </p>
<p>He and Kat had always been rivals, enemies, but she had always been his. Not because of their engagement. No. It was because in some small way he had always felt that they were equals. Counterparts to one another. She was the only one who understood that he lived off of thrill of their games, because she did too. Regardless of their fighting, it had always felt to him that he was not whole without her. The pranks and mischief that passed between the two was due to their nature, rather than their actual distaste for each other. Or that was what he had thought. At that moment he didn’t know what he thought.</p>
<p>He locked eyes with his older brother and neither of them looked away for what felt like minutes. Sweaty palms were clenched into fists, but his brother still kept his hand of Katherine.</p>
<p>Their lifelong competition with each other had come to this very moment, a point at which every argument they had, every spar that ended with one of them in trouble, paled to in comparison. The two brothers had fought relentlessly, but never had either of them done something like this. Sebastian had told Fred not long before that he actually cared for Katherine, and from the look of his eyes in the moment, Frederick certainly remembered.</p>
<p>That was when Kat turned around too, astonished to see that there was an intruder to their staged happiness. It was a matter of seconds before Sebastian had crossed the room and tackled his big brother to the ground. Katherine stumbled backwards, away from Fred in just enough time that she wasn’t pulled to the ground with them. Bash laid fist after fist into his older brother’s face, bloodying both Frederic and the floor of the cabin. </p>
<p>Katherine stood back in shock of it all, unsure of why Bash was so outraged at Fred, and therefore was paralyzed to stop it. The idea of him being jealous was out of the question. At least, that was what she thought. She was frozen with shock.
“Stop it! Bash you’ll kill him! Stop!”</p>
<p>Ser Vael rushed in and tore Sebastian off of Frederic. Bash pushed away his father’s clutches and walked around in a hotheaded circle. He subconsciously began trying to shake the pain from his right hand while his rage still seethed from him.</p>
<p>“Sebastian! Maker’s breath… how could you? This is your brother!” His father bent down to examine the damage done to Frederic’s face, taking out a kerchief to stifle the blood. Bash paced back and forth on the opposite side of the cabin, still steaming.</p>
<p>Katherine’s gaze was glued to him as he paced, but his eyes never met hers. He was avoiding her, refusing to look at her, she could tell.</p>
<p>His chest heaved with angry, short breaths and he clenched his fists trying to relieve the pain he now felt in his split, bleeding knuckles; a  mix of his brother’s blood, and his own dripping from the tips of his fingers.</p>
<p>Her own father had rushed into the cabin too, and was rapidly dishing out a lecture that she never heard. All she could focus on was that memory playing on a loop in her mind’s eye as she stared at Sebastian. The memory of him walking through the door, looking as though the blight ran hot through his blood.</p>
<p>Her father’s voice rose, “Katherine Elaine! Are you even listening to me? The both of you leave tonight! I hope you’re pleased with yourself, you and Sebastian both are condemned to exile, and you shall live out your punishment in a fucking cloister!”</p>
<p>“Surely not Bash, too! What has he done wrong? The blame is entirely on me!” Katherine wiped away stinging tears quickly before they could begin to come any faster. “No, this is… this is all my fault.”</p>
<p>The memory again played over for her. Sebastian rushing forward at Fred, painful anger on his face, jealousy staining darker than any love or loyalty for his brother. </p>
<p>Her ears felt hot. Her head much too heavy.</p>
<p>I’ve all but broken his heart, but how? How do you break someone’s heart when they don’t care? He wasn’t supposed to care… I’m not supposed to care.</p>
<p>More tears spilled over, pushed out by her confused thoughts and her own fractured heart.</p>
<p>“Father! Please don’t do this to Sebastian! I will go, take me but he has done nothing!” She repeated again trying to urge her father to see reason.</p>
<p>At her words, Sebastian stopped pacing and finally looked up at her, with furrowed brows. He frustratedly thumbed at his bleeding knuckles again, but they held each other’s unwavering gaze. A single tear fell from Sebastian’s left eye.</p>
<p>The Prince of Starkhaven, Sebastian’s father, sighed in frustration, “The both of you have been an embarrassment to your families with your incessant antics. It is not solely you who carries the blame, Lady Trevelyan. Neither your father, nor I, want to do this but we can not afford any more trouble. If you can’t learn to at least tolerate each other, then you will be forced to do so.” </p>
<p>“Does this mean that Katherine is relinquished from our so despised engagement, then?” Sebastian said with harsh sarcasm. </p>
<p>Katherine wanted to shrivel up and die right there on the floor.</p>
<p>“The both of you have been exiled... Seeing that you are no longer a part of our family, it makes no difference what you do, Sebastian.” His father said.</p>
<p>Kat’s stomach churned to see on Bash’s face how much his father’s words hurt, and she blamed herself for it. Judging by the look he gave her, he blamed her, too. She morphed her expression into the best apology she could, feeling as though actually saying the words ‘I’m sorry’ out loud would never in their lifetime be enough.</p></blockquote></blockquote>
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